"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...
On 11/14/11 12:29 am, Robert Green wrote:

His other favorite saying was to "follow the money." I don't think
enough
journalists or even investigators live by that rule. I don't believe
there
are many journalists left that can do it in the modern age because
finances
are so complex. I'd still like to know who profited most from the real
estate bubble because you can bet they're cooking up another bubble to
cash
in on.

That's why we have to ban political contributions altogether, whether by
corporations or by unions, and have publicly funded elections.

Perce

I've been reading a lot of proposals about how that could be done, but none
of them sound very helpful. It took a long, long time for our government to
become so dysfunctional that we have people giving lots of money to fund
races far away from where they live. The Founding Fathers were good, but
not good enough to keep the "Embezzling Great-grand Nephew's" fingers out of
the taxpayer's till for more than a hundred years or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Lost-.../dp/0446576433

In an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our
government-driven by shifts in campaign-finance rules and brought to new
levels by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission-trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than
ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that
business interests wield control over our legislature.

As for me, when I'll believe in "money = free speech" when I see dollars
coming out of someone's mouth while they're speaking. If fairness means
banning union, corporate and all other forms of "group" money from
elections, I can live with it.

--
Bobby G.